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Reviews
The Right Stuff (1983)
An Entertaining and Inspirational Movie
The Right Stuff is a terrific story about America entering the space age. Based on true events from Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier to the 7 Mercury astronauts, the film assembled an excellent cast including Sam Shepard, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Barbara Hershey, Veronica Cartwright, etc., to pay tribute to those who paved the way for America to be at the "top of the pyramid".
It is a long movie, but never a dull moment. Though quite a bit of artistic licensing is carried out(so I am told), the movie showed events that were very true, such as Yeager breaking his ribs before his supersonic flight, and his friend fixing him a door handle by cutting off a section of a broom stick handle; the rigorous training the astronauts go through; Russians taking the lead going into space, Allan Shepard's "prayer" before liftoff; Pancho's restaurant burning down; John Glenn's risky re-entry, etc.
The movie doesn't just portray space flight. It portrays the lives of these astronauts, the tremendous risk they've taken, how they and their spouses cope with their profession, how the public perceives them, and of course the administrators, the politicians and the scientists. Characters in this movie are not impeccable people. They each have their own set of problems. Yet the imperfection, true to life or not, gives these heroes a human touch that is believable, which also makes a stronger statement that they are larger than life. Today people hardly think about what they went through to get us this far.
There is beautiful cinematography in this movie, with historical footage that blends in seamlessly. And the music score truly inspires at moments, such as when John Glenn's Friendship 7 blasts into space, and when Yeager takes the NF-104 "Starfighter" up for a spin. There is also light-hearted humor that provides some very entertaining moments, and a slight satire of the space race that is sure to offend a number of people.
I strongly disagree with some reviewers' assertion that the movie portrays "Gus" Grissom as a coward. In real life, Grissom went through much scrutiny he did not deserve, because of the blown hatch and the lost capsule. Watch it carefully and pay attention to the dialogue. The movie is extremely sympathetic towards Grissom, through his dialogue with his wife in which he could not understand why no one believed him; through the words of Yeager "...old Gus did all right..."; through Cooper's re-affirming touch on Grissom's shoulder while talking to reporters; and through the closing monologue that mentioned Grissom's death in the Apollo 1 fire.
In conclusion, this movie is an ode to those heroes that truly had the right stuff. It is both entertaining and inspiring. My advice to some viewers is - don't get too hung up on the satire, or historical inaccuracies.
By the way, look for the real Chuck Yeager in the bar scenes.
The Young Lions (1958)
Although a good film, it did not use the right kind of ingredients to the fullest of their potential.
This 1958 film "The Young Lions" is an adaptation of Erwin Shaw's great novel "The Young Lions", which examines World War II and conveys a strong anti-war sentiment through the stories of three characters - a terrific book to make into a film. There is also a terrific cast - Marlon Brando plays Christian Diestl, an idealistic Austrian ski instructor who joins the German army to serve the Fuher; Montgomery Clift plays Noah Ackerman, a Jewish kid from Brooklyn, who carries out his patriotic duty and answers the nation's calling to fight against tyranny and yet has to fight against tyranny of a different kind in his own barracks; Dean Martin plays Michael Whiteacre(and Oh what a wonderful role that could have been) , a playboy who finds himself somehow having a great desire to go to the front lines. The film also saw fit to cast Maximilian Schell with a supporting role in playing Captain Hardenberg, who is unhappy with his "police" duty in Paris and ends up sacrificing his men in North Africa. And there you also have Hope Lange who plays Hope Plowman who falls in love with Ackerman knowing her father dislikes anybody Jewish; and Dora Doll who plays the French girl Simone who hates Christian Diestl as the conqueror but loves him when he is helpless. All the right kind of ingredients are there for this to turn into an epic film, and yet it fell short of excellence. Good yes, but excellent, I am afraid NO.
The film did succeed in capturing the essence of the book in many scenes. Brando's portrayal of Diestl was brilliant right up to the end. His ideals, his heroism in France, his dissatisfaction of his duty, his affair with his Captain's wife, his disillusionment, his pitiful retreat, and his sense of humanity that is heavily clouded by his blind ideals were all vividly brought to the screen by Brando's skillful rendering. Scenes where Ackerman was mistreated and was forced to fight the three biggest guys in the barracks, where he met Hope's father, brought out the serious question of what people were in the war for, as did the book. And you merely have to look at Maximilian Schell to know that he was Captain Hardenberg.
Yet the film's biggest flop was its departure from the book. It sought to soften the much harsher reality presented by Erwin Shaw's writing, perhaps for fear that the audience would not like it. It gave the US military a much sweeter image in its upper brass than the book did. It over simplified Whiteacre's character and the audience were not given the in-depth examination, as is evident in the book, of this relatively well-to-do playwright's life, his desires and what eventually brought him into the war. The film, perhaps trying to cut its length, reduced Whiteacre into a savvy singer type, which was a terrible under-appreciation of Dean Martin's potential. (Incidentally, if you catch Dean Martin in "Airport"[1970], you'll find that he is capable of much more complex personalities.) The biggest disappointment, and its most unforgiving departure from the original novel, comes at the end when Christian Diestl smashes his machine pistol and gets shot by Whiteacre all too easily and Noah Ackerman returns home alive to reunite with Hope. Smashing the gun, although well done choreographically by Brando, only amounts to a poor attempt at a direct showing of anti-war sentiment. The book does it much more artfully with a detailed story that has Diestl fight to the last bullet killing Ackerman, and then has Whiteacre staring down and pulling the trigger at a wounded and smiling Christian Diestl. The film's having Ackerman stay alive in the end was just a bit too typical a happy-ending that was all too prevalent in those days of the 50's. Personally, I like the ending better if the hero dies, but that may just be me.
Overall, I would say this film did not use the right kind of ingredients to the fullest of their potential. It is a good film and yet it could have been much much better.